layers

We are in the process of rehabbing the steps into the auditorium and making them safer. It is interesting when you uncover construction from 30 years ago. You suddenly discover that walls don't go all the way to the floor and the shortcuts that were taken to cover up the way carpet was installed over things that you now have to rebuild everything. When all is completed it should provide a smoother and safer entry into the theatre for not a lot of money. We have been putting this off until we changed over for the new seats.

I spoke with the Kentucky Colonels office the other day and they told me it was now going to be September before we hear anything about our seating grant. That will put our order with 10-12 weeks of manufacture, shipping and installation back into December or January for the new seats. We have moved forward with removing the 14th seat on every other row so that we adjust to the new seating chart with the first show. The new chairs will be 2 1/2" wider in the seat than the old chairs. That will be a major difference for some of our season ticket holders who were seated in the old 16" wide seats. We continue to look to see if there are other ways to improve the show experience for the audience. I am trying to come up with more ways that everyone who is connected to the theatre can give us ideas on how to improve all aspects of the theatre. We will do a survey with our first show for audience members and I will try and put an online survey for those who can't participate during the Smoke on the Mountain run.

This week we finished up with the first phase of season tickets as all the tickets were printed. We now move to phase two were the restaurant discount cards get added to each order. The ticket letters containing exchange and other important information that go with the tickets and a final check of tickets before they go out in the mail. This is a race to get the season tickets out and then put the single tickets on sale for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming.

We are base coat painting the upstage walls for Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming so Kelly Salchli can come in and do the final scenic painting on them. Tonight we finish staging Act One of the Smoke and tomorrow is a review of Act One. Over the past week we have moved from just singing to the piano for the music to each of the actors playing instruments and singing the music. That is a big change for the performers. With the addition of the movement in the staging the hope is to no lose any of the vocal work that has been accomplished. Staging a show is like making layers on a cake. Each layer is built on top of the previous and adds more complexity. The goal is not to lose the base that you've built on as you add all the layers.